Arvind Narayanan's journal

OK this is fucking incredible. This powerlifting dude, Gene Rychlak, tried to beat his own bench press world record of 1005 pounds. He failed, and his 1015 pound weight fell on his chest. There's a video of it happening. He didn't just fail to lift it back up -- he completely loses control, the weight falls on his chest and pins him, his arms are flailing in the air and his legs shoot up due to the impulse. The half dozen spotters are way too slow to react.

The world record holder for a "raw" bench press (no assistive gear) is Scot Mendelson (780 pounds). He talks about how he had 550 pounds fall on him once. He had breathing difficulties for a few weeks, but again no major injuries.

A long time ago when I read an account of a bodybuilder (or a boxer, I'm not quite sure) who said he walked out of a major car crash unhurt where anyone else would have been killed, I didn't fully believe him. Now I do.